Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The Witch Mountain Series

"Race to Witch Mountain" will be released on 13 March 2009. It's not like this movie's gonna rock your world and change your perceptions of modern cinema, but still - it looks entertaining enough, and I'll see it for sure as a fan of the original and its sequels.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson helps two alien kids with superpowers get back to their spaceship and escape the grip of the US government/military guys.

I've seen the original movies years ago on BNT in their Saturday Walt Disney block, and I can say I had a great time watching them.

The first "Escape to Witch Mountain" is based on a novel I've never seen, let alone read, and it was released in 1975, starring Donald Pleasence (SEN from "THX 1138", and later to become famous as Doctor Samuel Loomis from the "Halloween" series)

Actors Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann are together in both films: this one, the original 1975 Disney film Escape to Witch Mountain, as Tia and Toony. In 2002 Ike directed a short titled "The Blair Witch Mountain Project" in which he and Kim step once again in the shoes of their characters for a mockumentary, a gift for the fans of the series. Disney did wise and decided to pay some tribute themselves - Richards portrays the roadside waitress and Eisenmann portrays the Sheriff in an upcoming film.

And while you can get your hands on the first two movies, the next two are hard to find: